Quickly

Sometimes, the crazy, unusual and just plain entertaining things happen all at once. Week 9 in MLS was one such time, as the league enjoyed a whopping 33 goals scored across all 11 contests, a couple sterling comebacks and a higher dose of woodwork than normal. Add that to your MLS-standard amount of unexpected results, and you have the makings of a pretty fun week.

There’s a lot to get to in this week’s edition of The XI. So let’s get to it.

I: The most dangerous lead in soccer is 3–0

Nothing was going right for the Sounders. Then, everything did, almost all at once. Looking back at Saturday’s thrilling 3–3 draw vs. New England, it’s instructive to remember that the defending champs started off their evening like this:

Oof. And it only got worse from there. Seattle hit the woodwork (more on that later), and New England scored a second, then a third. The second half dragged on. Then, around the 74th minute, they got a bit of luck. And then it snowballed:

The draw marks the second week in a row that an MLS game that featured one team up 3–0 has ended 3–3 (the Union allowed the Impact to come back last Saturday).

II: There were a whole lot of good goals

Choosing the best of all the 33 goals scored in Week 9 is going be much, much tougher than normal. Should it be Maximiliano Urrutti’s dribble and side-netting finish through traffic against his former club (part of a fun 2–2 draw between the Timbers & Dallas)?

III: The return of Dax

One of the offseason’s most unexpected storylines came roaring back to the forefront this week, as Dax McCarty returned to Red Bull Arena for the first time since the former Red Bulls captain and fan favorite was shockingly traded to the Chicago Fire.

The Red Bulls won 2–1, but Chicago’s goal came thanks to a wonderful little bit of persistent play that the whole stadium had seen plenty of times before (though not usually so far up the field):

The real story, though, came afterward. Despite the loss, and the undoubtedly awkward feelings of returning to his former home field, McCarty stayed after the game and signed autographs, shook hands, and took selfies:

VI: Face save and a beauty

RSL goalkeeper Matt Van Oekel did what he had to do in this instance, but Sporting KC still won 3–0.

VII: Toronto rounding into form

TFC didn’t get off to a great start this season, but Sebastian Giovinco showed last week that he was starting to get his groove back on the field. This week, Jozy Altidore showed the same. The U.S. international scored both goals in a 2–0 win over Houston on Friday, including this nifty piece of work with Giovinco himself:

X: Tifo of the week

Sporting KC and Real Salt Lake have developed a nice little rivalry since their MLS Cup showdown in 2013, with matches often turning quite physical. Sporting KC supporters took that idea and ran with it: